76% of Seniors Have Prescription Drug Coverage

Aug 19, 2003

So this is a first step, because he knows $400 billion isn’t going to come close to paying for this, and that’s what I want to pick up on, my friends, because this has become a disgrace. Now, we’ve talked about this time and time again over and over, but enough time has gone by that it’s worthwhile revisiting this. I know that California is all the media rage right now, and I understand that. And before California, it was the 16 words in President Bush’s State of the Union address that occupied the media. Remember that? Remember that? Well, here we have two political parties. Both parties, I must say, the Republicans and the Democrats are conspiring, it’s right here in this story, to rob future generations, the same children the liberals claim to worry about, of billions of dollars to pay for prescription drugs today so that the people in both parties can do everything they can to buy votes today from the seasoned citizen population, which – and here’s the dirty little secret – the vast majority of them do not need the benefit. There is a stunning statistic I came across today in my never-ending research and show prep for this program. Get this. Are you ready? 76% of seasoned citizens today already have some form of prescription drug coverage. Did you know that? No, you didn’t. And why didn’t you? Because it’s being suppressed. Well, it has leaked out. I ran into it on National Review Online. 76% of American seniors already have some form of prescription drug coverage. All this you’ve heard about this being a pressing entitlement, it’s either dog food or medicine, or it’s starvation or medicine, have you heard this? It’s BS. The way to look at this is 24% of the nation’s seasoned citizens need some assistance with their prescription drugs. This does not indicate that a full-fledged brand-new never-ending entitlement is indicated, does it? Nope, don’t need one of those, folks. Need a little stop-gap program. We don’t need to create a brand-new entitlement with no idea at all what it’s going to cost, mortgaging the future of children and grandchildren – once again, the precious children that the liberals keep telling us that everything they’re doing is for. 24%. That’s all that need it. 76% don’t. In fact, many senior citizens already are enrolled at the companies they used to work for, in a retiree program, and they’re going to be shifted to this Medicare plan whether they like it or not because their companies are going to get rid of it. If the federal government is going to pick it up, then a bunch of companies are going to say, “Well, hell, why should we continue to pay for this? See you later, old-fashioned worker. We’re glad you were with us but we’re casting you loose now so that you can go sign up with Medicare.” And these people aren’t going to like it because it’s dealing with the federal bureaucracy; it’s going to make life more complicated, all to get their medicine, which they’re very happy with now. Why is this being done? Votes. We’re creating an entitlement. Both parties are guilty of this- I hate to say it – for the express purpose of convincing the largest voting bloc in this country, American seasoned citizens, that they care about them.

You know, this kind of a financial burden is going to be imposed on a generation that right now can’t even speak for itself, a generation that has no influence over public policy, and that’s terrible, and I’m talking about that generation that is yet to be conceived, that generation that’s yet to even have maybe even been thought of, and in some cases that generation which is conceived, which is in the womb, but is still facing a risky path here because there are some people who don’t regard life in the womb to be life. And so there are a number of angles here to be considered, but it is that group of people who have no say-so in the matter who are going to end up paying for this.

Now, the thing that is frustrating about this, we’ve mentioned this countless times, we proved it, we’ve gone back to the 1980’s. Well, every time it’s tried, tax cuts will spur economic growth, do they not? They also have the moral imperative of returning money to those who pay taxes in the first place. But massive government spending increases – the burden that’s imposed on the economy and the taxpayer – it stunts economic growth. This entitlement, beyond the fact that it’s not necessary, is going to impose burdens on future generations that will end up stunting the overall growth of the economy. Let’s be clear about this. This program is going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than 400 billion over ten years. You know, these entry figures are never right. The initial projections we got for the first Medicare program are so far off the mark and they’re so low that it’s embarrassing – what Medicare has really cost versus what they said it would cost at this point in the program. They weren’t even close! This demand for all drugs regardless of price to be provided in quantity, whatever quantity you want to patients 65 or older, largest voting bloc in America, that’s going to drive public policy. And that’s what is driving public policy.And, by the way, what else is driving public policy is this assumption that everybody over 65 cannot live without some drugs. Everybody over 65 is totally dependent on drugs. Why, this program has been debated in such a way that we have got most people in this country thinking that if you reach 65 you can’t make it without some sort of medicine, that you’re going to die without it, it’s a matter of life and death, is it not? That’s how they’re portraying all this. That’s not true, either. That’s just plain old BS. It’s not a matter of life and death. And when 76% of the senior population has already got access to some sort of prescription drug coverage, I’m telling you there’s no real need for a brand-new entitlement. Judgments about supply and demand, costs, and affordability, sound financial economic practices, all those fly out the window here, folks, because the provision and distribution of prescription drugs will not be controlled by the political elite in Washington and the bureaucrats they empower. Going to be controlled by the demand side. Whatever these people want they’re going to damn well get because they’ve just been promised it and it’s all been promised so that they’ll vote. So nobody is going to be denied. Whatever is wanted, go to the doctor, get the script written and head to the drugstore and get it. Anything other than that means these very people that you’re trying to get on your side are going to be mad at you, so it’s going to be demand-driven, and in the process of it being demand-driven, damn the taxpayers, both current and future. It’s just another element of Medicare. Here come the recipients, demanding more and more, never once saying thanks, never once asking if anybody can afford it. It is a total gift.

I, for example, have yet to receive a thank-you note. I doubt that I ever will. All we’re going to get is nor demands. I’ll go so far as to say this. I don’t think that this whole thing is being generated at this point by the demand of the senior citizen population. I’m telling you folks, for the first time since this program has come up on this show, in recent years, prescription drugs, we get bowled over with phone calls, primarily from senior citizens who scream at me, “Stop talking about this, we need it, we’re in dire straights,” blah, blah, blah, this is not happening this time. We are not getting hit at all. I’m being highly critical of the program and most of the calls we’re getting on this are from people, senior citizens, who agree with me. There’s not a pressing demand. This whole thing has been created. This is inertia that is born of the political elite and their association with the mainstream media, creating story after story, day after day, indicating there’s this demand, crying demand, a need, a crisis, people are dying without their medication, they can’t afford it anymore, something has happened, we don’t know what, it’s the drug companies are raping everybody, and we’ve got to have this program now. And all it is, is a buy-the-vote technique, both parties are engaging in it and racing to be first so they can claim credit for it and in the process, it’s not even needed.COMMERCIAL BREAKLook, let’s spread the blame around equally. Not only are the political parties driving this prescription drug plan for votes, and something else, too, there’s a group that’s really not driving this time, and that’s the seasoned citizens themselves. Contrary to what you may be hearing, there is no massive nationwide demand, they’re not down in Washington knocking on the doors demanding to be served or else they’re going to riot. It’s not happening this time. There’s another group of people that’s helping push this, and as I say, we want to be fair in apportioning the blame, and a lot of it is, you know, corporations large and small. I just mentioned to you that by shifting, by creating a drug entitlement, a brand-new entitlement for prescription drugs, corporations have many retirees that they are still funding on their health care programs. Part of those programs include prescription drugs. These companies are going to tell these retirees, hey, we’ve enjoyed having you, you were great, but now that Medicare is handling this, we’re not going to fund this anymore, and that’s going to drive people that are very happy with their retired health care programs right into Medicare, against their wishes. But Ford Motor Company, for example, will save $50 million a year by shuffling people out of their health program and onto this Medicare entitlement. So, you know, there’s an equal amount of, I don’t want to say blame, but responsibility for who’s driving this. And if you’re hearing that it’s being driven by need, that there is a demand, that there’s a crisis, that people are dying without their drugs, they’re choosing dog food instead — it’s not true — 76% are covered.END TRANSCRIPT